Category: Speeches, Papers & Briefings

Colin James’s address to the Institute of Public Administration, 25 June 2009

The public sector has long been big in New Zealand. An assumption that the government is by and large a friend in need and in deed is part of our political culture. This trust and the fact that the public sector is big means the public has a strong interest in its government operating by clear, well-understood and strict rules of conduct. Observance of those rules is not a technicality, to be adjusted for convenience. Observance of the rules — of propriety in government — is in the public interest.
Of course, the government isn’t always a friend. Maori know that from their post-Treaty of Waitangi history. Everyone has a story or two about stuff-ups or gaps in services or unfair or incompetent treatment at the hands of a public agency or one of its staff. And there is a small minority which thinks the public sector is inherently a drag on economic progress and largely inimical to individual liberty. read more

Colin James’s paper to the Maori in Parliament conference, 9 May 2009

I signed up to talk about the future, which officially is the next panel, and then found myself assigned to talk about “Maori in general seats”. But when you come to think of it, that invites contemplation of the future, of Maori as full citizens. So that is what I shall talk about. read more

Colin James’s paper at the Victoria University Post-election Conference, 12 December 2008

The 2008 election was the last of the baby-boomers’ (1) elections. Henceforth Parliament and the government will increasingly be in the hands of the post-baby-boomers, the 28s-45s. So 2008 will in retrospect be seen as a pivot. read more

Colin James’s speech to an Institute of Public Administration seminar, 9 December 2009

Rodney Hide campaigned on “three strikes and you’re in” — prison, that is. The campaign worked, though his maths weren’t strictly accurate. After four strikeouts and 12 years on the Opposition benches, Rodney is at last in the government. But is it the government he wants to be in? And does the government really want him in? read more

Colin James’s comments at the launch of the New Zealand Australia Research Centre, 10 October 2008

1. A comparative history

Fifteen years ago I spent four weeks as the first New Zealand fellow at Cheryl Saunders’ Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at Melbourne University. Professor Saunders’ price for this privilege was an address. The topic I chose, to the mystification of her captive audience, was apposite to our purpose today. read more

Colin James for the Future Maker or Future Taker lecture series to mark the 25th anniversary of the Institute of Policy Studies 9 September 2008

On 7-8 April 2000 the Institute of Policy Studies ran an invited conference in the Legislative Council Chamber in Parliament Buildings “to involve a wider range of New Zealanders with as diverse a range of views as practicable in a debate on the constitution which has already begun and possibly to project forward a path for continuing broad-based debate”. The steering committee, composed of two former Governors-General, a former Prime Minister, a leading businessman and a leading Maori academic, declared a “belief that the constitution belongs to the whole people, can draw its legitimacy only from a broad-based agreement of the whole people and must not be changed without the approval of the whole people”. Both these statements were made widely available, in media statements and on the institute’s website. read more

Colin James speech to Manukau City Council Midwinter Function 25 July 2008

South Auckland is a sort of shorthand. John Key says “South Auckland” when he means “underclass”. He doesn’t bother to qualify it with the word “problem”. It is an instantly recognisable symbol for a social and economic negative. read more

ASPG conference 11 July 2008

Brief notes for Australasian Study of Parliament Group annual conference including a reference to the New Zealand election study Brisbane, 11 July 2008

1. Lifecycle

David Gow asked if there is a natural life cycle of governments: they come into office on the wax and then wane over time until they can no longer hold office. The history of our two countries suggests: not necessarily. From mid- twentieth-century to the mid-1980s conservative parties held office, with only minor interruptions from Labor/Labour: once in Australia’s case (1972-75) and twice in New Zealand’s (1957-60, 1972-75). read more

Colin James’s comments on panel at IPANZ young professionals conference, 5 June 2008

I shall start with…

1. The i-world

This is the world of i-Pods and i-Phones and all sorts of i-linkages, the internet world. It is an instant world, inhabited by avatars and holographs, a way of being without being, doing without doing. read more

Colin James’s graduation address, Victoria University of Wellington,16 May 2008

First, I register my parents’ gift: the privilege of valuing learning, which gave me a rich start in life from modest circumstances. Next, I thank the many who have opened unimagined learning opportunities in my working life, particularly Sir Frank Holmes and Professor Gary Hawke here today. Third, I note my lucky stumble into journalism, a trade of constant learning. I am blessed beyond any of my distant student dreams. read more